Joe Biden vows to ‘defend every inch’ of Nato from Russian threat

Not just Ukraine at stake, but ‘freedom of democracies throughout the world’, says US president

Joe Biden promised eastern European leaders he would “defend literally every inch of Nato” and said Vladimir Putin had made a “big mistake” by suspending Russia’s participation in the last remaining nuclear arms treaty.

The US president was in Poland on Wednesday to reassure allies as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine drags on towards a second year.

It came as Putin held a huge patriotic rally at a stadium in central Moscow to urge the public to get behind their armed forces fighting in Ukraine.